Irish consumer sentiment rose sharply in December after a surprise drop in November as people's outlook on their job prospects improved, according to a new survey published today.
The monthly index compiled by IIB Bank and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) climbed to 103.9 in December from 92.6 the previous month, resuming the upward trend of previous months.
"We think the message of recent sentiment readings is that consumer sentiment, like the Irish economy as a whole, is on a clearly improving trend," the report's compilers said.
"But there is still a degree of uncertainty in regard to the intensity of the upswing and how widely it may spread across sectors and households."
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects gross domestic product growth of around 5 per cent
in Ireland over 2004-6.
"Irish consumers have become notably less concerned about job prospects in the past year," the survey noted.
"Indeed, more consumers now expect unemployment to fall rather than rise in the coming twelve months. This is the first time positive responses exceeded negative responses to this survey since February 2001."
The December rise brings the Irish consumer sentiment index into line with its nine-year average but it is still below the 120 average of the Celtic Tiger boom years in the late 1990s.